Blog – Judicial Watchhttps://www.judicialwatch.org
Because no one is above the law!Wed, 13 Dec 2017 21:08:28 +0000en-UShourly1Secret Govt. Settlement in Rep. Hastings’ Sexual Harassment Case Filed by Judicial Watchhttps://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/secret-govt-settlement-rep-hastings-sexual-harassment-case-filed-judicial-watch/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/secret-govt-settlement-rep-hastings-sexual-harassment-case-filed-judicial-watch/#respondWed, 13 Dec 2017 16:03:37 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=92399It turns out the government secretly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to resolve a sexual harassment case filed by Judicial Watch against a Florida congressman with a long history of unscrupulous behavior. The veteran Democrat, Alcee Hastings, is most famous for getting impeached by Congress as a federal judge following a scandal involving the

]]>It turns out the government secretly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to resolve a sexual harassment case filed by Judicial Watch against a Florida congressman with a long history of unscrupulous behavior. The veteran Democrat, Alcee Hastings, is most famous for getting impeached by Congress as a federal judge following a scandal involving the solicitation of a $150,000 bribe in return for “favorable treatment for defendants in a racketeering case before him.” The disgraced judge was an unindicted co-conspirator, but there was enough evidence against him for Congress to boot him from the bench. Hastings is one of only six federal judges to be impeached by Congress and removed from the bench.

Judicial Watch’s lawsuit against Hastings was on behalf of a female employee that he regularly harassed. Her name is Winsome Packer and she was repeatedly subjected to “unwelcome sexual advances, unwelcome touching” and retaliation by Hastings when he chaired the United States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. For over two years, from January 2008 through February 19, 2010, Packer was forced to endure unwelcome sexual advances, crude sexual comments, and unwelcome touching by Hastings while serving as the Representative of the Commission to the United States Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Although Packer repeatedly rejected Hastings’ sexual attention and complained about the harassment to the Commission Staff Director, Fred Turner, Hastings refused to stop sexually harassing her. Instead, the congressman and Turner retaliated against Packer—including making threats of termination—because she continued to object to Hastings’ conduct.

Filed in 2011 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Judicial Watch’s lawsuit got dismissed a year later but led to a House Ethics Committee investigation of Hastings. Not surprisingly, the notoriously remiss panel absolved the congressman after a laughable, two-year probe. Charged with investigating and punishing corrupt legislators, the committee instead has a long tradition of letting them off the hook. In Hastings’ sexual harassment case, the panel found that the most serious allegations were not supported by the evidence, though Hastings “admitted to certain conduct that is less than professional.” For instance, the lawmaker admitted hugging Packer, asking her about her underwear and telling her he doesn’t sleep well after having sex.

For all these years, the American taxpayers that unknowingly doled out the cash to settle the case believed it was over. Hastings was absolved by a federal court and the Ethics Committee. Turns out there was an undercover deal in which the Treasury Department paid Packer $220,000 to settle the sexual harassment lawsuit against Hastings, who represents Florida’s 20th District, which includes portions of south Florida’s Broward and Palm Beach counties. A Washington D.C. news outlet dedicated to covering Capitol Hill broke the story last week after obtaining documents about the covert arrangement. “The 2014 payment to settle the case involving Hastings was not apparently included in a breakdown of payouts to settle discrimination complaints against House lawmakers from the past five years released last month by the Office of Compliance, which approves the payouts,” the article states. “That total included only one payment to resolve a sexual harassment claim — $84,000 paid to settle a complaint against Texas GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold.”

This indicates that there’s no telling how much the government, through various accounts and agency divisions, is spending to settle sexual harassment cases. The public may never know the magnitude of the problem, especially since most politicians will never come clean. Even after his secret settlement was exposed, Hastings denied harassing Packer and told a newspaper in his south Florida district that he knew nothing about the settlement. “I am outraged that any taxpayer dollars were needlessly paid to Ms. Packer,” the congressman says. In the meantime, the legislator’s unscrupulous behavior hasn’t changed. Earlier this year Hastings was in hot water after a watchdog revealed he gave his girlfriend the maximum taxpayer salary for five consecutive years to work in a field office. Top congressional salaries are supposed to go to the Washington D.C.-based chief of staff.

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/secret-govt-settlement-rep-hastings-sexual-harassment-case-filed-judicial-watch/feed/0Public University: Whistling May Qualify as Sexual Harassmenthttps://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/public-university-whistling-may-qualify-sexual-harassment/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/public-university-whistling-may-qualify-sexual-harassment/#respondTue, 12 Dec 2017 14:47:48 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=92362The sexual harassment scandals involving prominent Hollywood figures, media personalities and politicians has brought heightened awareness to the issue, but one public college appears to be taking things too far. At Tennessee State University in Nashville, “whistling in a suggestive manner” may qualify as sexual harassment and can get students expelled or employees fired. Those

]]>The sexual harassment scandals involving prominent Hollywood figures, media personalities and politicians has brought heightened awareness to the issue, but one public college appears to be taking things too far. At Tennessee State University in Nashville, “whistling in a suggestive manner” may qualify as sexual harassment and can get students expelled or employees fired. Those caught making “suggestive or insulting sounds” or making “suggestive or obscene gestures” also face similar consequences as well as students or staff who joke about sex on campus.

The rules are outlined in the university’s discrimination and harassment policy, which was obtained by a conservative journalism nonprofit dedicated to the principles of a free society. The group published an article on its website that reveals Tennessee State University has been blasted by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for several policies that allow free speech to be punished as harassment. With an undergraduate enrollment of about 7,000, the school’s policy lists nearly two dozen “offenses” that can constitute sexual harassment among students and employees. Cases are determined individually and the “totality of the circumstances” will be considered before deciding if sexual harassment has been committed.

The attorney who serves as vice president of FIRE’s policy research points out in the article that Tennessee State University’s policy doesn’t pass legal muster because it’s too ambiguous. Her name is Samantha Harris and she has degrees from two Ivy League universities, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. “Very broad categories of speech are banned as harassment, simply because someone might find them suggestively offensive and that’s something that courts have repeatedly held violates the first amendment,” Harris says in the story. Prohibitions on jokes and humor are dangerous because they could be abused to suppress unpopular speech involving political and social issues, Harris added. She also said that the school’s policy of banning any kind of demonstration during university events restricts students’ rights to protest and get their message across. Tennessee State also requires gatherings involving dissent to be registered with the vice president of student affairs to ensure the event is held at an acceptable time and appropriate site. That creates prior restraint on speech, according to FIRE’s legal expert.

Taxpayer-funded schools and colleges have taken an extreme leftist turn on several issues over the years and Judicial Watch has reported or taken legal action in several of the cases. This includes exposing a Mexican separatist school that pushes Marxism and Anti-Americanism in Los Angeles, pervasive corruption in Chicago public schools and an after school Satan club in Washington State that received speedy tax-exempt approval from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Judicial Watch is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the Berkeley Unified School District in California to obtain the records of a middle school teacher who is a national organizer for a radical leftist group. The teacher, Yvette Felarca, works at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and is a prominent figure in By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), an organized militant group founded by the Marxist Revolutionary Workers League that uses raucous militant tactics to protest conservative speaking engagements. Over the summer Felarca was arrested and charged with several crimes, including felony assault, for inciting a riot in Sacramento. Judicial Watch wants records about the controversial teacher’s violent Antifa activism, which reportedly includes illegally recruiting students.

Judicial Watch has also sued to stop illegal immigrants from receiving taxpayer-funded discounted tuition at public universities and colleges and reported extensively on the issue. Last year Judicial Watch wrote about professors at a public university in south Florida that demanded the school protect illegal aliens by creating a “sanctuary campus.” The professors compared immigration enforcement to “fugitive slave laws.” At the time students at colleges around the nation requested their undocumented classmates be protected, but the Florida professors blazed the trail as the first faculty members of an American taxpayer-funded establishment to officially call for campus-wide sanctuary in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election.

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/public-university-whistling-may-qualify-sexual-harassment/feed/0Tribe Known for Shady Bookkeeping Can’t Account for $14 Mil in FEMA Flood Grantshttps://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/tribe-known-shady-bookkeeping-cant-account-14-mil-fema-flood-grants/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/tribe-known-shady-bookkeeping-cant-account-14-mil-fema-flood-grants/#respondFri, 08 Dec 2017 17:37:34 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=92315Though its accounting system is “unreliable” and in “disarray,” a Nebraska Indian tribe got nearly $14 million in flood-assistance grants from the federal government and, predictably, a chunk of the money can’t be accounted for. The taxpayer funds flowed to the Omaha Tribe despite a long history of poor record-keeping that resulted in sanctions by

]]>Though its accounting system is “unreliable” and in “disarray,” a Nebraska Indian tribe got nearly $14 million in flood-assistance grants from the federal government and, predictably, a chunk of the money can’t be accounted for. The taxpayer funds flowed to the Omaha Tribe despite a long history of poor record-keeping that resulted in sanctions by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which operates under the Department of the Interior. Now a federal audit describes the tribe’s mishandling of the emergency money as “serious and pervasive.” The audit also blasts the tribe for “contracting with itself” to generate “artificial profits” to fabricate mandatory matching funds.

Despite the tribe’s shady accounting practices, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) doled out the money after the 2011 flooding of the Missouri River. Parts of the Midwest were devastated by the catastrophic flooding, which caused billions of dollars in damages, including the destruction of highways and flooding of thousands of homes. The disaster occurred after torrential rains stressed the main stream dams. In a federal lawsuit against the government hundreds of landowners assert that the Army Corp of Engineers could have avoided the disaster if flood control had been a priority, according to a local news report about the case. In the flood’s aftermath, FEMA distributed nearly $22 billion in assistance grants, agency figures show, including $3.1 billion to individuals and households.

Situated in northeastern Nebraska and western Iowa, the Omaha reservation’s casino suffered flooding along with 11 homes and a gas station. The tribe has a population of 5,194, according to its website. Under a government formula, FEMA was scheduled to give the tribe 75% of the cost to conduct the repairs while requiring the tribe to contribute the other 25%. Tribal leaders asked the agency to waive its contribution and FEMA denied the request, but President Barack Obama agreed to increase the federal cost share from 75% to 90%, according to the audit, which was conducted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General. “The Omaha Tribe used FEMA funds to pay for the tribe’s normal operating expenses, a bonus to its tribal-owned construction management company, and unauthorized repairs to its old casino building,” the DHS watchdog writes in its report.

The tribe could not provide adequate documentation for $13.9 million in costs and doesn’t have invoices, contracts or canceled checks that prove the work was done. For the new casino construction alone, the tribe could not furnish adequate invoices and canceled checks for $5.9 million in claims and made several payments to its own departments as if they were outside contractors. Tribal contracts did not specify a scope of work or did not include amendments, DHS auditors found. “We also could not determine whether the tribe properly charged contract rates,” the report states. “Invoices, especially from tribal departments or tribal-owned companies, had vague or no descriptions of work performed so we could not determine what work the tribe performed.” This seems to indicate fraud on the tribe’s part, especially considering its history of sloppy accounting. The DHS watchdog came short of accusing the tribe of fraud, writing that there is “little confidence the transactions recorded in the accounting system actually occurred or that the tribe completed its FEMA authorized projects.”

Tribal leaders seem to think they can do whatever they want with taxpayer dollars without accountability. For years the Omaha tribal council has blown off independent audits blasting the tribe’s use of government funds, the DHS IG reveals. Nothing will change if the cash keeps flowing into the derelict tribe’s coffers. In fact, the tribe’s emergency management director told officials investigating fraud associated with the flood emergency money that tribal sovereignty allowed the Omaha Tribe to manage federal funds according to its tribal laws. The audit determines that the Omaha Tribe is a “high-risk grantee” that shouldn’t be awarded future grants without special oversight. Maybe the Trump administration will finally put an end to the madness.

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/tribe-known-shady-bookkeeping-cant-account-14-mil-fema-flood-grants/feed/0Jail for Fla. Rep. Who Blasted Feds for Investigating Her Instead of Orlando Terroristhttps://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/jail-fla-rep-blasted-feds-investigating-instead-orlando-terrorist/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/jail-fla-rep-blasted-feds-investigating-instead-orlando-terrorist/#respondWed, 06 Dec 2017 15:56:24 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=92239The disgraced Florida congresswoman who suggested federal agents could have prevented the Orlando terrorist attack if they weren’t preoccupied investigating her is headed to prison. This week a federal judge in Jacksonville sentenced Democrat Corrine Brown, who served 12 terms in Congress, to five years in jail for fraud and tax crimes involving an $833,000

]]>The disgraced Florida congresswoman who suggested federal agents could have prevented the Orlando terrorist attack if they weren’t preoccupied investigating her is headed to prison. This week a federal judge in Jacksonville sentenced Democrat Corrine Brown, who served 12 terms in Congress, to five years in jail for fraud and tax crimes involving an $833,000 phony education charity. In a 24-count federal indictment, prosecutors called the fake charity (One Door) Brown’s “personal slush fund.” The veteran legislator used her position as a congresswoman to solicit charitable donations that she said would give scholarships to poor, minority students. In May a jury convicted the crooked lawmaker of 18 felonies.

The indictment was issued weeks after an ISIS operative gunned down dozens of people at an Orlando nightclub and the congresswoman went on a tirade outside the federal courthouse that she proclaimed was built “without minority participation” as if that was relevant to her case. “I represent Orlando,” Brown said at the time. “These are the same agents that was not able to do a thorough investigation of the agent and we ended up with 50 people dead and over 58 people injured,” she said referring to the massacre carried out by terrorist Omar Mateen in June, 2016. “Same district! Same Justice Department! Same agents!” Brown also accused the prosecution of being racially motivated and wrote this on her blog: “I’m not the first black elected official to be persecuted and, sad to say, I won’t be the last.” The indictment slammed Brown with multiple counts of mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, obstruction and filing of false tax returns. The fallen lawmaker also played the race card by comparing her indictment to fatal police shootings of black men that ignited nationwide civil unrest.

Brown isn’t the only one headed to prison. Her longtime chief of staff, Ronnie Simmons, was sentenced to 48 months and the president of Brown’s phony nonprofit, Carla Wiley, received 21 months in jail. In 2016, Wiley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and as part of the plea agreed to cooperate with investigators. Brown abused her status as a congresswoman to solicit charitable donations from corporate entities that she “knew by virtue of her position in the U.S. House of Representatives,” according to federal authorities. The money was used to pay for lavish receptions, luxury boxes for a Beyonce concert and a professional football game, repairs to Brown’s car and several vacations. More than $735,000 of the charitable contributions went to pay a close family member for a job in Brown’s office that involved no work, the indictment states.

At this week’s sentencing hearing the judge, Timothy Corrigan, said the defendants knowingly participated in a shameless conspiracy. “This was a crime born out of entitlement and greed committed to ensure a lifestyle that was beyond their means,” Judge Corrigan said. “Ms. Brown was personally responsible for all or nearly all of the $833,000 that flowed into One Door because, without her clout, donors would not have given to One Door. Even if she did not know how all the money was being used, there was never any intent that the bulk of the money would be used for charitable purposes.” A Jacksonville newspaper called Brown’s sentencing “a remarkable defrocking of the once-powerful and garrulous” Democrat.”

In Congress Brown was known for getting large campaign contributions from the industries she helped regulate. She sat on the House Transportation Committee and transportation industries—railroads, trucking companies and transportation unions—accounted for three of her top four industry donors. Back in 1998 the House Ethics Committee investigated Brown involving several issues, including a $10,000 check she got from a Baptist official in legal trouble and a pricey car her daughter received from one of the congresswoman’s millionaire Florida pals embroiled in a bribery scandal. Brown’s supporters can rest easy that on her tombstone it will not say “felon, guilty.” At least that is what the corrupt lawmaker said in an interview with a Jacksonville news outlet days before her trial started. She also complained that she had to sell her beach house and tap into retirement money to pay for her defense.

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/jail-fla-rep-blasted-feds-investigating-instead-orlando-terrorist/feed/0Leftist Group that Gets Millions from U.S. Offers to Pay Legal Fees of Arrested Tax Reform Protestorshttps://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/leftist-group-gets-millions-u-s-offers-pay-legal-fees-arrested-tax-reform-protestors/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/leftist-group-gets-millions-u-s-offers-pay-legal-fees-arrested-tax-reform-protestors/#respondTue, 05 Dec 2017 16:14:44 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=92170A leftist nonprofit that offered to pay the legal and transportation expenses of tax reform protestors receives tens of millions of dollars from the government, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch. The New York City-based group, Housing Works, describes itself as a “healing community of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.” Its mission

]]>A leftist nonprofit that offered to pay the legal and transportation expenses of tax reform protestors receives tens of millions of dollars from the government, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch. The New York City-based group, Housing Works, describes itself as a “healing community of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.” Its mission is to end homelessness and AIDS through advocacy, lifesaving services and businesses that sustain the efforts.

Last week, Housing Works organized a big demonstration in Washington D.C. to protest the Republican tax overhaul and the group plans to return to the Capitol this week to try to keep the measure from passing. A D.C.-based news publication obtained an internal email that reveals Housing Works encouraged supporters to commit illegal behavior. “We will transport, house and feed you, and deal with all legal support,” reads the email to supporters. “Caveat: if you are far away from DC and expensive to transport, we can probably only fly you if you can risk arrest.” Next to the message is a link to sign up. The group described the protests like this: “The Rs voted and fled the room, but were snagged by reporters in the hallway, surrounded by bird-doggers, and shamed for their disgraceful votes.”

Undoubtedly, the measure has ignited controversy because it would be the most sweeping reform of the nation’s tax code in three decades. Americans from all walks of life and groups such as Housing Works have the right to express their opinion and rally supporters to make an impact. But it’s outrageous for a group that receives millions of taxpayer dollars to, not only embolden law breakers, but offer to pay for their legal and transportation expenses. The news publication that broke the story points out that “organizers on either side of the aisle sometimes attempt to coordinate logistics for their teams, but the requirement that an individual need to risk arrest in the District in order to qualify for aid is unique, especially given the fact that hundreds of protesters are facing decades of prison time for violently protesting President Donald Trump’s inauguration.”

What the article failed to mention is that Housing Works gets a lot of money from American taxpayers, the records obtained by Judicial Watch show. Since 2009 the group has received nearly $22 million, including $4.7 million in 2017 alone. The cash flows through the departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Health and Human Services (HHS). The biggest chunk of money comes from HUD, the notoriously corrupt and bloated federal agency embroiled in a multitude of scandals. Of the eight grants issued this year, only one—for $1 million from HUD—was issued before Donald Trump became president. The rest were doled out in February, May and August. A $1,187,909 HHS allocation on May 23, 2017 is described in the records as an Obamacare grant for “new and expanded services under the Health Center Program.” Judicial Watch reached out to both agencies for comment on taxpayer funds being used to promote and defend illegal behavior, but telephone calls and emails to their public affairs department went unanswered.

HUD has long been a bastion of corruption under both Democrat and Republican administrations. Ronald Reagan’s HUD secretary, Samuel Pierce, was embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal that saw 16 people, including some of his top aides at the agency, convicted. Bill Clinton’s HUD secretary, Henry Cisneros, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about payments to a mistress. George W. Bush’s HUD secretary, Alphonso Jackson, was forced to resign during a federal investigation involving cronyism. Under Barack Obama the agency was embroiled in countless scandals, including violating a federal ban on funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), allowing a director who simultaneously ran a leftwing nonprofit change agency policies to benefit her group and employees who went on personal shopping sprees with agency credit cards.

In 2012 Judicial Watch sued HUD for records involving a contentious St. Paul, Minnesota case in which the agency unscrupulously meddled with a local issue in the name of race. In an effort to maintain its neighborhoods, the city improved housing enforcement by targeting landlords with a history of violations. A minority contractor claimed that the new code enforcement measures reduced the availability of low-income rentals, causing a disparate impact upon African-Americans. St. Paul got slammed with federal lawsuits and the U.S. Supreme Court was expected to hear the case, but the city backed down amid intense federal pressure.

HHS also has a documented history of wrongdoing, especially involving Obama’s disastrous takeover of the nation’s healthcare system. The agency spent millions of taxpayer dollars on a “guerilla campaign” to promote Obamacare and pumped $1.2 billion into government-funded nonprofit health insurers, known as Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan Programs (CO-OP), that failed. Judicial Watch has been a leader in investigating HHS’s Obamacare embarrassments, including that the agency launched its defective Obamacare website despite known security flaws. Judicial Watch also obtained records showing the Obama Internal Revenue Service (IRS) coordinated with HHS and a hokey White House Behavioral Sciences team in a $5 million program to pressure Americans to sign up for Obamacare.

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/12/leftist-group-gets-millions-u-s-offers-pay-legal-fees-arrested-tax-reform-protestors/feed/0Legislators Go Unscathed as Hollywood, Media Punish Sexual Harassmenthttps://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/legislators-go-unscathed-hollywood-media-punish-sexual-harassment/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/legislators-go-unscathed-hollywood-media-punish-sexual-harassment/#respondWed, 29 Nov 2017 17:56:17 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=92080Of all the high-profile men that have gone down recently for sexual harassment, none of the accused politicians have suffered any consequences indicating that elected officials are immune from punishment. In the last few weeks powerful entertainment figures, prominent television news personalities and a top political journalist have been fired for sexual harassment while members

]]>Of all the high-profile men that have gone down recently for sexual harassment, none of the accused politicians have suffered any consequences indicating that elected officials are immune from punishment. In the last few weeks powerful entertainment figures, prominent television news personalities and a top political journalist have been fired for sexual harassment while members of Congress embroiled in similar scandals remain in power.

Minnesota Senator Al Franken simply issued a public apology for groping and demeaning women, telling a local newspaper “I’ve let a lot of people down and I’m hoping I can make it up to them and gradually regain their trust.” In a social media post, the Democratic lawmaker dedicated a heartfelt “I am sorry” to all who have considered him an ally, supporter and champion of women. Veteran Michigan Congressman John Conyers took the amnesia route, claiming that he knew nothing about secretly paying a staffer—with taxpayer funds from his office budget—to make a sexual harassment scandal vanish. Multiple former staff members also accuse the 88-year-old lawmaker, the longest serving House member and until a few days ago the ranking Democrat on the powerful Judiciary Committee, of sexual harassment. A few years ago, Conyers got busted for illegally forcing congressional staffers to be personal servants and work on state and local campaigns, but he wasn’t even disciplined. This seems to be par for the course in Washington.

A few years ago, Judicial Watch sued a Florida congressman with a long history of deceit and corruption, for sexually harassing a female employee. The Democratic legislator, Alcee Hastings, was impeached by Congress as a federal judge after getting caught in a scandal involving the solicitation of a $150,000 bribe in return for “favorable treatment for defendants in a racketeering case before him.” The disgraced judge was an unindicted co-conspirator, but there was enough evidence against him for Congress to boot him from the bench. Hastings is one of only six federal judges to be impeached by Congress and removed from the bench. Appropriately, he joined one of the nation’s most corrupt enterprises and has flourished by committing a multitude of misdeeds that include mixing work as a public servant with romance. Earlier this year Hastings was in hot water after a watchdog revealed he gave his girlfriend the maximum taxpayer salary for five consecutive years to work in a field office. Top congressional salaries are supposed to go to the Washington D.C.-based chief of staff.

Judicial Watch’s lawsuit against Hastings was on behalf of a female employee that he regularly harassed. Her name is Winsome Packer and she was repeatedly subjected to “unwelcome sexual advances, unwelcome touching” and retaliation by Hastings when he chaired the United States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. For over two years, from January 2008 through February 19, 2010, Packer was forced to endure unwelcome sexual advances, crude sexual comments, and unwelcome touching by Hastings while serving as the Representative of the Commission to the United States Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Although Packer repeatedly rejected Hastings’ sexual attention and complained about the harassment to the Commission Staff Director, Fred Turner, Hastings refused to stop sexually harassing her. Instead, the congressman and Turner retaliated against Packer—including making threats of termination—because she continued to object to Hastings’ conduct.

The lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch in 2011 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, led to a House Ethics Committee investigation of Hastings. Not surprisingly, the notoriously remiss panel absolved the congressman after a two-year probe. Charged with investigating and punishing corrupt legislators, the committee instead has a long tradition of letting them off the hook. In Hastings’ sexual harassment case, the panel found that the most serious allegations were not supported by the evidence, though Hastings “admitted to certain conduct that is less than professional.” In a separate investigation into Conyers’ corrupt acts years earlier, the Ethics Committee also failed to discipline the Michigan legislator, determining that he had “accepted responsibility” for the violations. As distinguished figures suffer consequences for committing sexual harassment, the question is who will punish elected officials for the same transgressions?

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/legislators-go-unscathed-hollywood-media-punish-sexual-harassment/feed/0Mexicans Use U.S. Business/Tourist Visas to Smuggle Drugs Through Borderhttps://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/mexicans-use-u-s-businesstourist-visas-smuggle-drugs-border/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/mexicans-use-u-s-businesstourist-visas-smuggle-drugs-border/#respondTue, 28 Nov 2017 16:12:03 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=92048For those who believe the southern border is plenty secure, federal agents in one Texas sector seized more than 1,700 pounds of marijuana, 90 pounds of cocaine and 17 pounds of liquid methamphetamine in just one week. In separate incidents the same Border Patrol sector arrested three international gangsters—including members of the Mexican mafia and

]]>For those who believe the southern border is plenty secure, federal agents in one Texas sector seized more than 1,700 pounds of marijuana, 90 pounds of cocaine and 17 pounds of liquid methamphetamine in just one week. In separate incidents the same Border Patrol sector arrested three international gangsters—including members of the Mexican mafia and the notoriously violent Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)—during the same period. Hundreds of miles to the west, agents in California snatched nearly 842 pounds of narcotics over a weekend, a chunk of it brought in by Mexican citizens with American business and tourist visas.

It has been well documented by federal law enforcement agencies that the majority of illegal drugs in the United States come from Mexico and Mexican traffickers remain the greatest criminal threat to the U.S. Mexican cartels—classified as Transitional Criminal Organizations (TCOs) by the government—have for years smuggled in enormous quantities of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. In its National Drug Threat Assessment, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) confirmed that Mexican cartels are in a class of their own, that “no other group can challenge them in the near term.” They are sophisticated operations that function like businesses. “These Mexican poly-drug organizations traffic heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana throughout the United States, using established transportation routes and distribution networks,” the DEA report states. “They control drug trafficking across the Southwest Border and are moving to expand their share of US illicit drug markets, particularly heroin markets. National-level gangs and neighborhood gangs continue to form relationships with Mexican TCOs to increase profits for the gangs through drug distribution and transportation, for the enforcement of drug payments, and for protection of drug transportation corridors from use by rival gangs.”

The National Drug Intelligence Center, dismantled by the Obama administration after nearly two decades of operation, published equally alarming figures regarding the Mexican drug crisis. In a detailed report published by Judicial Watch, the now-defunct agency revealed that in 2009 thousands of metric tons of heroin, meth, marijuana and cocaine were smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico and that tens of billions of dollars in drug proceeds flowed back south. At that point, much of the smuggled drugs came through the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation in Arizona, so the problem is spreading like wildfire across the vast and famously porous southern border which spans around 2,000 miles.

Many hoped the situation would improve under the Trump administration, but apparently that is not the case. Frustrated Border Patrol agents interviewed by Judicial Watch say little has changed since Trump was sworn in even though he vowed to tighten border security. The recent figures at just two sectors situated along the Mexican border support that. The 1,700 pounds of marijuana, 90 pounds of cocaine and 17 pounds of liquid methamphetamine were confiscated by the agency’s Rio Grande Valley division during a week in mid-November. Federal authorities estimate the cocaine to be worth more than $2.7 million and the marijuana $1.3 million, according to a press release. The liquid meth is estimated to have a value of over half a million dollars. “The seizures were results of Border Patrol operations along he river and at Border Patrol checkpoints,” the agency writes in the statement.

The weekend stash in San Diego, California has a value of $8.3 million, according to the Border Patrol. It includes fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. The drugs were found in 15 separate smuggling attempts and were hidden in various areas of vehicles such as the gas tank, trunk, battery, floor, quarter panels and tires. Two of the smugglers were Mexican citizens with B-1/B-2 visas granted by the U.S. to foreigners for business, tourism or a combination of both. The first was a 53-year-old man who got busted with ten wrapped packages of fentanyl in a compartment on the floor of his sports utility vehicle. The drugs have an estimated street value of $736,000, according to the feds. The other Mexican smuggler with a U.S. visa was a 56-year-old man driving a commercial bus with 382 pounds of cocaine worth nearly $5 million hidden in the gas tank.

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/mexicans-use-u-s-businesstourist-visas-smuggle-drugs-border/feed/0Will House Ethics Comm. Let Conyers’ Sex Scandal Slide Like His Past Corrupt Acts?https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/will-house-ethics-comm-let-conyers-sex-scandal-slide-like-past-corrupt-acts/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/will-house-ethics-comm-let-conyers-sex-scandal-slide-like-past-corrupt-acts/#respondWed, 22 Nov 2017 17:07:37 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=92014The prominent Michigan congressman who illegally forced congressional staffers to be personal servants and work on state and local campaigns is embroiled in a major sex scandal. Various media outlets report that John Conyers, the longest serving House member and ranking Democrat of the powerful Judiciary Committee, secretly settled a sexual harassment claim by an

]]>The prominent Michigan congressman who illegally forced congressional staffers to be personal servants and work on state and local campaigns is embroiled in a major sex scandal. Various media outlets report that John Conyers, the longest serving House member and ranking Democrat of the powerful Judiciary Committee, secretly settled a sexual harassment claim by an employee with taxpayer funds from his office budget. Additionally, multiple former staff members accuse the 88-year-old lawmaker of repeatedly making sexual advances toward female staff. Democratic colleagues have already called for a House Ethics Committee probe, but there’s little hope Conyers will be punished since the notoriously remiss panel let him off the hook the last time it investigated his corrupt acts, determining that he had “accepted responsibility” for the violations. A former staffer said the legislator, a civil rights icon and founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, is untouchable.

If you recall, Conyers’ wife, disgraced Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, served three years in prison for bribery. Now it’s hubby’s turn to be in the scandal limelight. Affidavits filed by four former employees and scrutinized by reputable news outlets, show an alarming pattern of sexual misconduct by Conyers. In the documents the workers say they saw the congressman repeatedly making sexual advances to women on his staff, including touching them inappropriately with leg and back rubs and requesting sexual favors. The woman who received the secret settlement filed a wrongful dismissal complaint in 2014, claiming she was fired for rebuffing the congressman’s repeated sexual advances. In 2015 she was paid $27,000 from Conyers’ taxpayer-funded office budget in exchange for silence. “His office would ‘rehire’ the woman as a ‘temporary employee’ despite her being directed not to come into the office or do any actual work,” according to the document cited in the news report that broke the scandal this week. A law clerk representing the woman described it as a “designed cover-up.”

Three other staffers submitted affidavits to the Office of Compliance documenting a disturbing pattern of behavior from Conyers. The congressman touched one woman in a sexual manner and got angry when she brought her husband, the news report says. One former female employee, who was also the victim of Conyers’ sexual advances, was responsible for flying in women for the congressman. “One of my duties while working for Rep. Conyers was to keep a list of women that I assumed he was having affairs with and call them at his request and, if necessary, have them flown in using Congressional resources,” the former staffer wrote in her affidavit. A second staffer interviewed in the news article also said Conyers used taxpayer resources to fly women to him.

When a national newswire confronted Conyers earlier this week, the veteran legislator denied knowing anything about the accusations and was quoted saying he had “been looking at these things with amazement.” Conyers has subsequently acknowledged the secret settlement with the former female staffer but denies the allegations. Now the two most senior Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee (California’s Zoe Lofgren and New York’s Jerry Nadler) behind Conyers are calling for an ethics investigation saying the allegations are extremely serious and deeply troubling. “Obviously, these allegations must be investigated promptly by the Ethics Committee,” Nadler said in a statement. “There can be no tolerance for behavior that subjects women to the kind of conduct alleged. We also must support efforts to reform the way the House of Representatives handles these matters to make the process easier and more supportive of victims, as well as more transparent.”

The last time the House Ethics Committee investigated Conyers it was a big joke. The probe involved illegally forcing congressional staffers to be personal servants and work on several state and local campaigns. After a comical three-year investigation, the committee took no action, declaring that the lawmaker “accepted responsibility” for a series of House rules violations involving the abuse of his staffers. The ethics committee’s top Republican and Democratic members justified the panel’s inaction by declaring that Conyers acknowledged a “lack of clarity” in communicating what was expected of his official staff. As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in 2009, Conyers abruptly reversed his opposition to a controversial hazardous waste project with financial ties to his corrupt city councilwoman wife. Conyers was vehemently opposed—along with fellow Michigan Congressman John Dingell—to the project in his district but later changed course to become one of its strongest advocates. With the help of his crooked politician wife, Conyers even wrote the federal government a letter supporting the plan and pushing for the permit transfers required for the hazardous waste injection well in the city of Romulus, Michigan. The letter, addressed to the Environmental Protection Agency, explained that “many things had changed” in favor of the project since he stood in opposition to it.

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/will-house-ethics-comm-let-conyers-sex-scandal-slide-like-past-corrupt-acts/feed/0Terrorist Front Group Outraged School Cancelled Muslim Speaker after Parents Complainedhttps://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/terrorist-front-group-outraged-school-cancelled-muslim-speaker-parents-complained/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/terrorist-front-group-outraged-school-cancelled-muslim-speaker-parents-complained/#respondTue, 21 Nov 2017 15:51:49 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=91996It’s ironic that the Islamic terrorist front group that bullied U.S. law enforcement agencies into purging counterterrorism training materials is outraged that a public school disinvited a Muslim speaker after parents complained. The bruhaha occurred at Northeast Middle School in Bristol, Connecticut. A Muslim woman named Annam Choudhry was scheduled to speak this week in

]]>It’s ironic that the Islamic terrorist front group that bullied U.S. law enforcement agencies into purging counterterrorism training materials is outraged that a public school disinvited a Muslim speaker after parents complained. The bruhaha occurred at Northeast Middle School in Bristol, Connecticut. A Muslim woman named Annam Choudhry was scheduled to speak this week in a social studies class, according to an article in the local paper. Choudhry is the founder of a group called YURSA and she was planning to “dispel misconceptions” about the Islamic faith for the seventh-grade students.

Parents received a letter earlier this month announcing that on November 22 Choudhry would discuss misconceptions about her religion and her experiences as a female Muslim. Posted on social media, the letter describes Choudhry as “a young Muslim woman who was born and raised in New York City who now resides in Connecticut.” It continues: “She started YUSRA, an organization for the empowerment of Muslim women. Their mission is to train Muslim women to inform others about the Islamic faith and to dispel misconceptions that are prevalent in today’s society. This presentation will enrich our curriculum on world history.” Parents and other residents of the suburb, which is located about 20 miles southwest of Hartford, expressed fury.

The controversy led the Bristol Board of Education to cancel Choudhry’s engagement, claiming the teacher who scheduled it received threats, though Bristol Police Chief Brian Gould said there is no “specific threat that required police investigation at this point.” Bristol Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu told the local paper she supports the superintendent’s decision to cancel the presentation for the safety of students and staff. Cries of discrimination and censorship soon followed. Calling it a “disturbing example” free speech suppression, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) claims it has documented many protests over the teaching of Islam in schools.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which reportedly raises money for Hamas, blasted the school district for cancelling the Muslim presentation, asserting that it “emboldens individuals and organizations in Bristol who are Islamophobic” and does a disservice to Bristol students and the community as a whole. Farhan Memon, the chairman of the group’s Connecticut chapter, said it is vital that school children are exposed to Islam at a time when the civil liberties of Muslim Americans are under attack by policies like “Trump’s Muslim Bans.” Memon also said he is “concerned that Bristol Public Schools would seemingly bow to public pressure in this manner.”

Ironically, the nation’s law enforcement agencies bowed to pressure from CAIR to alter counterterrorism training materials deemed by the group to discriminate against Muslim. Under Barack Obama, CAIR wielded tremendous power and managed to coerce law enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal level to revamp counterterrorism training materials. This includes getting the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to purge anti-terrorism training curricula of material determined by CAIR to be “offensive” to Muslims. Judicial Watch uncovered that scandal and obtained the FBI records three years ago.

Based on troves of government documents, Judicial Watch subsequently published a special, in-depth report on the scandal. CAIR is not specifically named but the records show that an undisclosed group of “Subject Matter Experts” (SME) determined the federal training material was offensive to Muslims. CAIR also got police departments in Illinois to eliminate anti-terrorism training materials and instructors deemed anti-Muslim. As an example, CAIR asserted that an instructor for the Lombard, Illinois police force wrote an article years earlier that included disparaging comments about the Prophet Muhammad. The course was called “Islamic Awareness as a Counter-Terrorist Strategy” and departments in Lombard, Elmhurst and Highland Park caved into CAIR’s demands. Earlier this year CAIR ordered the Air Force to sever ties with an instructor it considers to be anti-Muslim.

Keep in mind that CAIR is a terrorist front group with extensive links to foreign and domestic Islamists. It was founded in 1994 by three Middle Eastern extremists (Omar Ahmad, Nihad Awad and Rafeeq Jaber) who ran the American propaganda wing of Hamas, known then as the Islamic Association for Palestine. In 2008 CAIR was a co-conspirator in a federal terror-finance case involving the Hamas front group Holy Land Foundation. Read more in a Judicial Watch special report that focuses on Muslim charities. Judicial Watch also tried to find out if CAIR got the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to overhaul its anti-terrorism training but the spy agency said it could “neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of records” involving meetings or communications with the Muslim rights group. The CIA asserted that the information is classified intelligence protected from disclosure. The response goes on to cite the statutes—such as the CIA Act of 1949 and National Security Act of 1947—that allow the agency to hide even the most benign information from the American public. It’s likely that the CIA met with CAIR during the Obama years—or at least had communication with the extremist group—and doesn’t want the public to know about it.

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/terrorist-front-group-outraged-school-cancelled-muslim-speaker-parents-complained/feed/0Deported Gangster in Murder Plot Worked in Colorado City that Wouldn’t Hire Police Chief for Backing Immigration Enforcementhttps://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/deported-gangster-murder-plot-worked-colorado-city-wouldnt-hire-police-chief-backing-immigration-enforcement/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/11/deported-gangster-murder-plot-worked-colorado-city-wouldnt-hire-police-chief-backing-immigration-enforcement/#respondThu, 16 Nov 2017 16:13:20 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=91860A previously deported illegal immigrant gang member charged with attempted murder and kidnapping this month was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Ft. Collins, a northern Colorado sanctuary city that ousted a finalist for police chief over his support of immigration enforcement. Judicial Watch blew the scandal open in September and is embroiled in a public

]]>A previously deported illegal immigrant gang member charged with attempted murder and kidnapping this month was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Ft. Collins, a northern Colorado sanctuary city that ousted a finalist for police chief over his support of immigration enforcement. Judicial Watch blew the scandal open in September and is embroiled in a public records saga with Ft. Collins officials for documents surrounding the selection process and abrupt elimination of a respected veteran law enforcement official with impressive credentials. Ft. Collins is trying to keep records secret by asserting that the “material is so candid or personal that public disclosure is likely to stifle honest and frank discussion within the government.”

The former chief deputy for the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office in central Arizona, Steve Henry, was a finalist for the Ft. Collins position and was invited to travel to the city for an interview. But Henry’s offer was abruptly rescinded, according to a source closely involved with the selection process, because he publicly supported an Arizona law (SB1070) that makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. without proper documentation and bans “sanctuary city” policies. This clashes with Ft. Collins’ sanctuary policies, which have been well documented in media reports. Mayor Wade Troxell said in a local newspaper that the city is an open, inclusive and friendly community and that “all people matter.” Members of the city council have consistently said they support diversity and want the city to be a welcoming place for all people.

This recent case proves how sanctuary policies endanger communities. The suspect, an illegal alien from El Salvador named Angel Ramos, tried to kill a woman by stabbing her repeatedly with a screw driver then running her over with his car before trying to stuff her in the trunk. He is a confirmed member of the violent street gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and is wanted for homicide in his native El Salvador, according to information provided to the media by the U.S. Marshals Service. The 36-year-old has been charged with attempted murder, assault, menacing with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, domestic violence and criminal impersonation. Last year Ramos was deported from Texas to El Salvador after getting arrested for domestic violence, authorities told a national news outlet. Days after trying to kill the woman this month, he was arrested at the Ft. Collins construction site where he worked.

It’s not clear how or when Ramos ended up in Ft. Collins, but it’s not unreasonable to assume that the city’s sanctuary measures made it attractive for a previously deported gang member on the run. The MS-13 is a feared street gang of mostly Central American illegal immigrants that’s spread throughout the U.S. and is renowned for drug distribution, murder, rape, robbery, home invasions, kidnappings, vandalism and other violent crimes. The Justice Department’s National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) says criminal street gangs like the MS-13 are responsible for most violent crimes in the U.S. and are the primary distributors of most illicit drugs. Wonder how Ft. Collins residents feel about their city leaders enabling MS-13 members to live and work in their community?

Of interesting note is that Ft. Collins’ local newspaper, the Coloradoan, makes no mention of Ramos’ immigration status, reporting only that “Homeland Security agents assisted with the arrest.” The paper supported Ft. Collins’ push to become a sanctuary for illegal immigrants and appears to be completely in the city government’s pocket. Other Colorado media outlets rightfully mentioned the newsworthy information about Ramos’ immigration status. The Ramos case indicates that Ft. Collins could use a better newspaper and a police chief like Steve Henry, whose support for the rule of law ironically served as a disqualifier for a candidate hired to enforce the rule of law.